Back when Toronto FC first entered Major League Soccer games in Columbus were some of the more anticipated on the schedule. The, by MLS standards, relatively short drive down to central Ohio meant at least a regular contingent of Reds’ supporters made the trip, even excluding the record setting number achieved in 2008.
In addition to proximity there was almost always the perception that Toronto could take something from the match. In those earliest days Columbus weren’t very good and the Mighty Reds, all piss-and-vinegar and backed by a then heretofore unseen level of support, were certainly destined to soon surpass the little club from the city most Torontonians would never visit otherwise.
Ironically, as any Crew supporter will tell you, Toronto failed to record a victory against the Black-And-Gold until nearly the conclusion of TFC’s fifth season. As the Reds went from bad, to mediocre, to diabolically terrible, the Crew always stayed at least a little bit ahead: bad, to very good, then slowly back to mediocre. Toronto FC has still never managed to finish a season ahead of Columbus in MLS’ Eastern Conference standings.
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Finally though, after a couple years outside of the playoffs, the normally stable Crew had an offseason shake-up at the same time as the regularly scheduled Toronto FC one.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] New ownership took a tangential approach to the popular trend of appointing former MLS players to head coaching positions by luring Gregg Berhalter back to North America after his perceived failure at Hammerby in Sweden. It was a move that was looked upon sceptically by a fair number of jaded Crew supporters.
Surely, with the big transformation in T.O., and a good start to boot, it was time for the Reds to once again not fear a trip to the home of their erstwhile Trillium Cup rivals.
It hasn’t worked out that way.
Part of that is down to circumstance as a litany of injuries and suspensions will move Toronto severely down their depth chart and away from the first-choice 11s who earned wins against Seattle and DC United. The week has been one piece of ominous news after another for closely tuned in supporters. Jonathon Osorio has not recovered from his hamstring issue. Steven Caldwell received a one-game suspension for his tackle on Ned Grabavoy. Jermain Defoe’s early removal from the game in Salt Lake was apparently not early enough and he is likely to be unavailable Saturday.
While Jackson will be back from the suspension he earned in the victory over DC and Michael Bradley will surely be starting in central midfield, the American starred for 90 minutes Wednesday night in a 2-2 draw for the United States against Mexico, has missed a week of training with the team, and has to fly back across the continent to rejoin them before heading down to Columbus.
Bradley earned rave reviews for his play in an advanced position at the top of a midfield diamond but, as detailed here on CSN, the tactical options are much more limited to Ryan Nelsen should he hope to replicate such a role with the Reds, particularly in Osorio’s absence.
But even if Toronto were to have a full, first-string line-up available, coming off the shellacking in Utah there’d be reason for concern heading into Columbus. The Crew have looked much improved and sport the league’s only perfect record at 3-0-0.
Federico Higuain – a player some observers thought was unfairly overlooked in last season’s MLS MVP voting -- has been in fine form and if he starts to find space in front of the Toronto backline the way Javi Morales did last weekend it will likely be a long evening for TFC. Sacrificing Michael Bradley’s offensive contributions and desire to go hunting the ball high up the field in favour of blanketing Higuain in central midfield is an unattractive, but possibly necessary trade-off, considering the personnel available to Nelsen.
Higuain, like Defoe in Toronto, has dominated most of the headlines, another player who will pose a more quiet danger to the Reds is Michael Parkhurst. Probably the least heralded of the American internationals lured back to MLS over the last year Parkhurst has gone from a somewhat regular MLS player (who once scored a famous goal in TFC’s first season), to a European-experienced and savvy professional.
The efficiency of his play is exemplified by the fact that after the first few weeks of the season he had some of the highest pass completion AND attempt statistics in the league. While Parkhurst, like Bradley, completed 90 minutes for the United States in midweek his play is more based on organization and relies significantly less on pure athleticism. So the Reds will not only have to stop Higuain; they’ll also have to stop the supply to him from Parkhurst and young midfielder Wil Trapp.
If Toronto FC are to take anything from Crew Stadium Ryan Nelsen will need to engineer a gutsy, backs-to-the-wall performance and organize a largely second-string Reds into the “hard to beat” team he wants them to be. The season was never going to be a cake walk and, if TFC wants to stay successful over the course of it, these sorts of adjustments will almost certainly have to be done again. Just think of this as an early start.